Known PON communication protocols for 1 G (Gigabit per second) line rate include IEEE802.3ah—1 GEPON (Gigabit Ethernet PON), FSAN (Full Service Access Network) and ITU-T G.984.1/G.984.2/G.984.3/G.984.4 GPON (Gigabit PON). The IEEE802.3av protocol for 10 GEPON (10 Gigabit Ethernet PON) is also known.
FIG. 1A shows an EPON packet format. FIG. 1B shows a GPON encapsulation method (GEM) packet format. The meaning of each element or component in each figure may be found in the respective standards. The 1 GEPON and 10 GEPON control protocols are defined by the Multipoint Control Protocol (MPCP) given in the IEEE802.3ah (clause 64, 65) and IEEE802.3av clause (76, 77). The MPCP is packet based. Major MPCP concepts include time-stamping MPCP packets, sending grant packets in the downstream (DS) to indicate upstream (US) transmission slots, sending report packets in the upstream to indicate reported data in queues and auto-discovery and a registration protocol. The GPON transmission control protocol (GTC) is defined in ITU G.984.3 and includes management done through a GTC header provided in a GTC frame.
1 GEPON and 10 GEPON also include a higher level control protocol, the Operation Administration and Maintenance (OAM) protocol defined in IEEE802.3ah (clause 57). The OAM protocol is also packet based. The GPON higher level protocol is implemented by two types of messages—PLOAM messages and OMCI messages—defined in ITU G.984.3 and G984.4.
Next generation access (NGA) protocols are currently being developed. NGA includes the GPON next generation protocol marked as NGPON1, which includes XGPON1 (10 G/2.5 G) and XGPON2 (10 G/10 G). Current IEEE EPON specifications do not support GPON based communication protocols (including NGA GPON protocols), which leaves the market segmented. Therefore, there is a need for and it would be advantageous to have new methods, systems and protocols which allow different specifications to operate in coexistence in the same PON.